“I was a little nervous at the beginning of the game,” Miller said. “Once I saw them in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone I was pretty excited. It really calmed me down.”

Miller’s three-pointer with 10:26 left on the clock gave Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (28-2) the lead for good at 37-35. It ignited an 11-2 run, extending the cushion to eight points three minutes later. She capped the spurt with her sixth three-pointer.

Miller went 7-for-12 from three-point range. She missed all four of her two-point shots.

“Abby is very confident in her shooting,” Lakers coach Jason Kuehn said. “When they do it with the pressure on and in the clutch, it makes your proud as a coach.”

“I think we started playing better defense, that’s why we were able to stretch out our lead,” Kuehn said. The Lakers limited Minnehaha Academy to eight points over the final 10:47. “We are going to have to be a lot better both offensively and defensively in our next game.”

That will be a matchup with No. 1-ranked New-Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (29-0) on Friday.

“Now, that’s going to be a challenge,” Miller said. “Obviously, they have a great team. They scored 100 points today.”

Fast start leads to quick exit for foe

Kenyon-Wanamingo 64, Redwood Valley 31: The Cardinals were making their first state tournament appearance in 35 years. Kenyon-Wanamingo made sure it didn’t last very long.

No. 2-rated Kenyon-Wanamingo (30-1) scored 15 of the first 18 points, and was in control from the outset against overmatched Redwood Valley. The victory was the Knights’ 21st consecutive.

“We came into this game with a lot of confidence,” Knights senior forward Siri Sviggum said. Their only loss of the season came at the hands of NRHEG in early January.

It showed from the opening tipoff. Redwood Valley (19-10) struggled to get quality shots against the Knights’ defense in the opening half, going 5-for-24 from the floor while falling behind 39-12 by halftime.